Just as Prof. Feraud, from the Russian stand in the Forum des Langues de Toulouse, describes the event yesterday, with the public reaction to the presentation of the Proto-Indo-European language revival project:

There was a good attendance to the Language Forum, maybe in the thousands. Some hundreds of leaflets have been distributed among visitors – see an example of 4 leaflets in A4 size.

We’ve got in touch with many language associations and groups with variable reactions:

Complaints about the complexitiy of Proto-Indo-European declensions by some speakers of non-inflected languages.

Polite and positive reception by most other stand representatives of European languages.

Very good understanding of the bases of the project especially by the Indian and the Modern Hebrew ones, because of evident reasons.

Future collaborations with another Language Association and a European institution of Toulouse are forseeable, thanks to the contacts made.

AND, some critics also from the Esperanto stand: “the language for the European Union already exists, it is Esperanto…” 😕

The Forum des Langues du Monde, organized by the Carrefour Culturel Arnaud-Bernard since 1993, is the most important language fair of Toulouse, and one of the best known in southern France.

It shows the diversity of languages spoken in the region of Midi-Pyrénées – with a territory larger than 8 EU member states -, from Occitan to Indonesian, as they are found in Toulouse metropolitan area, which (with 1.117.000 inhabitants in 2007) is the fifth-largest in France and the fastest growing in Europe.

Its main objective is therefore to entertain people and make them think about the relationship between language and society: thus, popular entertainment events and high level debates will be offered at the same time in the public square, and opened to all visitors.

On Sunday 1st June, in the Place du Capitole, stands will present more than 120 languages, represented by more than 80 associations and individuals interested in sharing their knowledge. A professor responsible for the Russian language stand, and recent member of the Indo-European Language Association, will also share information about the Proto-Indo-European language revival project for the European Union.

We believe it is a great oportunity for those interested in joining Proto-Indo-European revival to contact nearby colleagues, and to cooperate and create a permanent, self-governing PIE revival group in France; and maybe also in other countries, given the international projection of Toulouse.